Being retired is a plus. You have a good shot at achieving the necessary: good prep, patience and perseverance to end up with a low budget paint job.

I have had some good rattle can results, but they are fragile and the 1st chip is always devastating. Fortunately, it happens soon after completion and there us usually a partial can left that's still good for touch-ups. Once over the 1st damage hurdle, enjoy your results.

Realistically, if you want a really good, long lasting but low cost paint job, use a good, local powder coat shop that has bike experience. Lately, a thorough clean, polish and touch up of the original paint seems more attractive to me. Don

Just a couple of points:

The Rustoleum "professional" stuff is still an Alkyd Enamel, and pretty poor compared to any automotive paint from the last 50 years (acrylic, synthetic, or urethane enamels). Most automotive 2k clears will lift and bubble it unless you've let it dry for months, or bake it. Considering the effort in prep, I wouldn't use it. Either pony up for the good stuff, or just send it out for powder coat. It would be a shame to waste all the prep work on a poor top coat.

Absolutely get a respirator. There are tons of nasty solvents in any of these paints, and any of the catalyzed 2-part paints contain hardeners called isocyanates that are extremely toxic, and can cause immediate, as well as permanent breathing problems. (Or death. Yes, these paints have killed people) There aren't any non-supplied air respirators technically rated to handle them, as they don't have a distinctive smell to tell you if the filters are at capacity. That being said, if you use new cartridges each time, you are probably fine. Also, it can be absorbed through the skin, so a full tyvek bunny suit is a really good (and cheap) idea.

Funny, my most recent conversation with Scott indicated much the same. May be that some trial and error time will be most enjoyable.

For me , the Rustoleum enamels have worked great.

I spent 40 years finishing cabinets using a gun and pressure pot and am pretty good spraying lacquer.

Having to clean everything every time I used the equipment was a real drag though and failure to do so caused all sorts of problems.

Rattle cans are cheap , effective, and can produce a nice finish.

I don't generally clear coat because a gloss enamel looks pretty nice without it and the inevitable touch up is easy since you already have matching paint left over in the can. Spray a little paint into a plastic micro wave tray and use a pencil brush to fix any dings.

I have also clear coated a few Raleigh Sport frames with Rustoleum clear lacquer . A call to the tech line confirmed that it is acrylic lacquer and ids suitable for exterior use.

some important things to remember.

Do not touch the bare metal of the frame with your hands before paint. wear rubber gloves at all times during painting to avoid getting oil from your skin on the metal.
My prep consists of using paint stripper to remove most paint then sand blasting to remove the rest of the paint and rust.

As soon as you finished blasting, sand the bare frame with 1000 grit wet/dry paper then wipe down with lacquer thinner , then alcohol.

As soon as everything is clean, wipe down with a tack rag.

set frame in a jig to support it. I use a wood workers Jorgensen Clamp and a piece of down inserted in the seat tube . this lets me rotate the frame easily .

Spray the nooks and crannies first, then the tubes, using bare metal primer , let sit, then sand with 1000 grit and wipe down with alcohol then wipe with tack cloth .

Before spraying , put the spray can in hot water for half an hour. This will increase the pressure somewhat and make the paint spray finer.
Spray the stays first, Then spray the main tubes with the bottom side up first, then turn the bike over and spray the top sides. Generally any overspray will end up on the bottom side where it won't show.

Be very careful not to spray the paint on too heavily as this will always result in runs or sags. It will happen anyway so don't sweat it. After the first coats dry thoroughly, go back and wed sand out the runs .

Repeat until you have caught all the holidays and runs and you have a consistent color, then one more even coat and you are done.

Enamel should dry 48 hours between coats . When done I hang the frame from the roof facia boards on the south of the house for 2-3 weeks before I start reassembly.

Definitely paint solid colors until you are proficient. metallics, candies, and pearls are a lot more difficult to blend properly and once applied are almost impossible to touch up.

Here is my latest paint job.

I follow the general advice here and in other sites to sand then I take it to my local body shop.

Since I rarely need the original color code, I wait for a car to come in to be sprayed and I pay my guy $60-$80 for prime, color and clear . Don't know if you can get that price but I'm sure you'll get close.

I have stray painted a number of bikes with rattle cans and lately with a much nicer setup with a compressor and a good gun. My 2 cents based on this experience is to get a respirator to keep your lungs safe. Acetone to clean up. Tack rags to get the dust.

I have used rattle can paint with good result. Start with a primer. Sand it smooth. You can make lots of mistakes here and then sand out any problems. The automotive touch up paints like Dupli Color have nice paint and good nozzles that spray in a flat pattern like a good automotive spray gun. Then go apply any decals, artwork or pinstriping. Then use a clear coat.

I did not start out as a big fan of clearcoats, but now that I have used them, I love them. For starting out, with out going out and buying a compressor, spray gun, filters and dryers, I would get Eastwood's two component clearcoat. I haven't tried it, however, I have heard that it is good.

I have used single component clearcoat, and it is Ok at best. It is not a tough finish. I use a 2 component clearcoat with my spray set up and can say that it is tough as any paint I have ever encountered. It is so tough, that my advice is to avoid runs in the clearcoat. You can sand them out, but it will take more work than with other paints. I expect that the Eastwood 2K clearcoat should be as tough and good as what you can get with a good automotive clearcoat.

I painted a frame with a brush because I didn't want the trouble or hazards of spray. I had low standards, which is why I'm satisfied with my job. The one clever thing I did was to mask my Nervex lugs with liquid latex. It went on with a little acid brush, and it peeled off easily.

based on my 2 frame painting experience

rattle can can look fantastic, but it is not anywhere as durable as automotive finishes

To do the job right it takes a lot more time and costs more than you would think, even for rattle can

have to have a respirator
Strip frame to bare metal (chemical stripper)
clean oil from frame
Acid etch primer
Sandable primer
sand
color coat (multiple thin coats, best to plan so that you can re-spray as soon as the respray time will let you)
clear coat (mutiple thing coats, gain watch respray

My first job, rattle can one, is looking really ratty...... when it is so ratty that i overcomes my laziness, I will strip the components and get i powder coated

There has to be a reason why you can't paint small areas with an air brush but I don't know what that reason is. Probably people who have done this can correct me?

Until I saw this thread I was planning on buying an air brush and compressor and then stripping and spraying my Fuji frame.

I had planned to paint forks in one stage, the head tube as one stage, the underside as one stage, the top tube, down tube and front of seat tube as a single stage, the chain stays as one stage and then the seat stays as the final stage. I thought if I did it in pieces over several days I could tape an area, paint it, let it dry and then move on in 24-36 hours to the next area. I assumed that an air brush could handle these small jobs.

Based on what I see here I am guessing I am wrong??

You can do small areas. With cars you can tape off to body line or a panel to separate the line that you would get from the old paint to the new. If you have lugs, you could tape to the lug line. If it is TIG welded you might be able to tape off on the weld and have the new paint and the old paint over lap in the weld area.

You may be able to mask in a visible spot, sand with 1000 grit, then polish and never see the transition.

Feathering the new to the old paint doesn't normally look good because there is an area of small speckled paint drops where the transition is made. It is best to mask so that you get the right paint thickness.

The other option is to brush paint it. Look at MyTenSpeeds.com there are examples of bike painted by brush that are excellent. No overspray, or respirator required.

Following this, I'm at about 20% inclined to buy a spray gun (again) and 80% inclined to stay with rattle cans.

Current project, was expecting to use Tower Paint, good reputation with the car crowd and I've used their cans before but not on a bike. As I plan to spray my entire collection of bikes Guards Red, I can stock up all on one color.

For a gun, I'd be more likely to try that option if there was a local class I could take on use and cleaning (NOT a YouTube video). I already have a 4HP 20gal compressor.